While manning the phone at an Orkin pest control office, Stacey Williams knew she should be doing something else with her life—but couldn’t quite put it into words. During that time, she earned a bachelor’s in psychology from Georgia State. Williams was a nontraditional student in her forties. She became sure of her aspirations through her undergraduate studies as well as a study abroad excursion to Morocco, sponsored by Georgia State’s Robinson College of Business. She discussed her goals with the faculty and staff members who accompanied students on the trip, wording her desire this way: to understand the impact of employee wellbeing on global companies’ bottom line.
The professor she talked to happened to be director of Robinson’s Master of International Business (MIB) program. He convinced her to pursue the degree.
“My classmates focused on the financial and legal aspects of business, but I always asked questions about the humanistic side,” Williams said. “It became a running joke.”
Soon into the program, she snagged a promotion as national accounts vendor engagement manager.
As part of one class, a cultural diversity trainer gave a guest lecture on creating a sense of belonging in the workplace. Williams realized her field of interest has a name: diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Though the concept of DEI originated during the Civil Rights Movement, it gained nationwide steam after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd. Williams was enrolled in the MIB program in fall 2020, when companies had begun adopting DEI practices at an exponential pace.
Around the time Williams graduated in summer 2021, she heard about listening sessions taking place at Rollins, Orkin’s parent company.
“I wanted in. I knew what the company needed from a cultural as well as operational standpoint,” she said. “I practically stalked the director of corporate HR for eight months until a position was created for me.”
Williams joined Rollins as a workplace inclusion practitioner in April 2022 and was just promoted to corporate HR generalist. The title doesn’t do justice to her wide swath of responsibilities.
For starters, Williams served on several Rollins Workplace Inclusion task forces and played a key role in building bias training workshops. She also conceptualized, drafted, and implemented five employee resource groups spanning eight categories. She currently is overhauling the company’s onboarding experience, developing annual employee goals, and regularly writing DEI-related articles for distribution to Rollins’ more than 16,000 employees.
“Middle managers and frontline employees are the ones who really drive change,” Williams said. “We are growing our company in a way that shows we are more than just the service we provide to customers.”
Williams has kept in touch with many of the technicians and service managers she worked with throughout her early years at Orkin.
“I found my place,” she said. “It feels good to know I’m amplifying other people’s voices.”